Live Free or Let Me Die
by Heights93
Summary: AU. Elena is trying to take down OverSight with the help of Toby and Kendall. How far will they get into destroying what destroyed their humanity?
1. Intro

Live Free or Let Me die

"Elena, where are you?" came through my ear piece. "Elena, answer me!" It was Kendall, ex-recruit trainer of OverSight.

"If I tell you where I am, you promise not to get mad?" I muttered looking through my miniature telescope. The coast was clear. I ran forward quickly and made my way up to the balcony.

"I told you we weren't doing that!" Kendall snapped. I unplugged the security cameras.

"You know I never listen," I responded reasonably.

"I'm coming to get you, don't move!"

"Kendall, don't I'm doing fine."

"I never listen either."

"Kendall!"

I found a window unlocked and I quietly slid in. I held my gun at the ready as I crept in through the heavily secured mansion. I didn't want to set anything off. I inspected each room briefly as I passed. It seemed no one was home except for security. I needed to get that computer chip and get the hell out. I had a vague idea of where it could be; I took my chances. I found the study in the home and luckily a computer.

"Elena?" came through my ear piece. This time it was Toby.

"Toby, where's Kendall?" I asked.  
"He's on his way to get you," he said.  
"He shouldn't have come," I said. I looked around the desk for some kind of memory chip. I knew what they looked like, but I never had my hands on one yet.

"Heads up, you have someone entering the house," Toby warned.

I frantically searched. I spluttered through the drawers and our the home computer. I needed to get out of here quickly. I could be caught any minute and I didn't have any back up. Who knew how far Kendall was. Nothing. No chip was here. My heart was pounding.

"Looking for this?" asked someone from the door way. I whipped around with the gun already aimed. It was the owner of the house. His name was Robert Riley, that's what it said when I first started doing my research.

"Yeah, give it or I'll blow out your brains," I said.

"You're not an OverSight agent or you would have killed me by now," the man said.

"Careful, El, he's just stalling so his security can get to you," Toby said. With that in mind, I kicked the chip out of his hand and quickly hit his head with my gun. The door busted open and I grabbed the man into a headlock and aimed my gun to his temple.

"Kill her!" he yelled. His security shot at me, but I used him as a human shield. The bullets all hit him and blood flew everywhere.  
"El, get out of there! More security is on their way!" Toby said. I shot back and killed very few of them. I shot at the window so I could escape. My whole body told me to just hurtle out the window and retreat, but my mind told me to get the chip. It was on the ground a couple feet away from me. I threw the body at them and dived for the chip. I grabbed it and hurtled out the window.

"Toby, I got it! I got the chip! Where's Kendall?" I asked.

"He's inside looking for you," Toby said.  
"Then I'm going back in," I said pocketing the chip.

"Elena?" came a second voice.

"I told you not to come!" I snapped.

"Guys!"

The house burst into flames. The impact threw me onto the ground and I covered my head from the millions of pieces of glass. After the raining glass stopped, I looked up. The whole house was a blaze and black smoke rose into the sky.  
"Damn it, Kendall!" I yelled. I got up and circled the perimeter of the house."Kendall! Oh God, Kendall!" My heart was at my throat. It'd be my fault if something happened to him. I didn't listen to him. If I did we wouldn't be in this mess. I spotted someone on the grass. I ran forward hoping it was Kendall. It was! I slid over to his side. His heart was beating and he had a pulse, all good signs.

"Kendall, wake up. We have to get out of here," I said. "Please, wake up." He opened his eyes.

"Are you hurt?" he asked eying my bloody shirt.

"Not my blood," I said.

"Move guys, the cops are on their way," Toby said cutting in. I helped him up onto his feet. Then we tore off into the woods behind us. As we ran steadily through the trees, the sound of the sirens faded away. I only cared about getting away from there as fast as possible.  
"Keep on heading south, you should run into a gas station. From there you'll need to play a little Grand Theft Auto to get home," Toby said.

"We'll be there in an hour," Kendall told him. We slowed down as we heard the sirens die off. We rested for a couple minutes.

"What is your problem?" Kendall demanded. "I'm your only line of back up and you just take off like you're in this alone!"

"You didn't want to do this mission," I reminded him. He got up and tore off. I sighed and followed. We finally reached to the end of the forest. There was a silent high way to cross and there stood the gas station. There was only few cars to chose from. As he hot wired a blue car, I stood out for look out. We rode in silence. I knew he was angry at me, but he'd get over it. By the time we arrived at Toby's house, it was getting dark.

"Thought you guys were toast," he said as we entered.

"Some of us almost were," Kendall muttered. "I'm going to go take a shower." He took off his belt that carried his gun and ammunition. He bent down to pull out the hidden gun near his ankle. He threw it on the couch and went up stairs.

I pulled out the chip and handed it to Toby proudly. I hoped this chip would work. We couldn't afford to not get the right one. We were spending too much time and energy on bringing down OverSight.

"I'll get to work on this," he said. "Go clean yourself up, you're going to get blood all over my floors!"

I grinned broadly and scampered off to go take a shower in the extra bathroom. As I disentangled my hair in the shower, I watched all the blood and dirt swirl down the drain. I slipped into shorts and a tank top. I walked over to the room that Kendall and I shared in Toby's house. He was in front of the mirror drying off.

"Are you still mad?" I asked. "Please don't be. You know I had to do it."

"I'm mad that you didn't take me into consideration!" Kendall said sitting on our bed. "We're supposed to be a team! I left OverSight for you, El."

I climbed onto bed with him and sat cross legged on his lap. I wrapped his arms around me and I lightly placed my hands around his neck. He sighed heavily, defeated. I had this fight in the bag.

"I'm sorry," I said sincerely. "But I had to do this. We need that chip more than anything right now, you know that."

He rolled his eyes at me. I kissed his lips and he responded. I pulled away.

"I love you," I told him. He kissed me.

"I love you too," Kendall said. "Let's get some rest, okay?"

I nodded. I laid beside him. With his body heat radiating against me, I fell asleep almost instantly. Ever since I left OverSight my night terrors have stopped and now that Toby and Kendall were helping me out things were getting better. For the most par, I wasn't in this alone anymore. I had people who cared about me and had every desire to bring down OverSight just as much as I did.

The next day I work up cold. My blanket was no where on me as it was last night. I opened my eyes to realize that I was alone. I grabbed my robe and went down stairs. Toby and Kendall were huddled by Toby's computer.

"Did you figure it out?" I asked Toby. I leaned against Kendall and he wrapped his arms around me.

"It's a fake chip," Toby said. "Sorry, El."

Kendall kissed my hair. I was so disappointed. This was the second chip we found that was a decoy. I should've known OverSight wasn't going to make this easy for anyone. I was the only person out there who could possibly want their chip, of course, they didn't want me to get what they had in this chip so easily.


	2. Trusting Thayer

Flashback: Get Out While You Can.

"Come out, Elena!" Kendall said. "OverSight is willing to forgive you, El."

Forgive me? I didn't want them to forgive me? Ha! I wanted them to fear me. I wanted them to fear my name and be cautious just even saying it. I stepped out of my hiding place carefully, my gun raised.

"I don't need their forgiveness," I said walking toward him.

"Stop, Elena, don't you want to talk to me?" Kendall asked lowering his gun.

"OverSight is wrong, Kendall. They're using you," I said.

He threw the gun at my feet. He raised his hands to show me he was at my mercy. He looked sincere, but I would not be swayed by an old friend

"You've thwarted every OverSight assignment so far—," Kendall started.

"Because they didn't deserve to be killed!" I snapped.

"And I do?" he asked me.

I smirked. He thought I was going to kill him. He didn't know me at all. All that time we spent together and he hasn't learned. He should know better. He wasn't worth killing and I did not want to kill him.

"Turn around," I ordered. He obeyed.

"OverSight is our home, Elena," Kendall told me.

"It was my home," I corrected.

I aimed at his left leg and I pulled the trigger. He yelled out in pain and fell to the ground in agony. I didn't mean to kill him, just hurt him to show OverSight that I meant business. Even if that meant hurting an old friend. They were messing with someone who can destroy them one person at a time, starting off with him. I bent down to look at him in the face.

"Get out while you still can, Kendall," I muttered. I stood and ran off leaving Kendall injured.

"Right there," Kendall said pointing to a spot on the map on the computer screen.

"But it's in the middle of no where," Toby said.

"Find an image," I said. He pulled up a virtual image of the place Kendall had pointed to on the screen. It was ruins of a building. It looked old as if it wasn't up to date. I didn't recognize the place at first.

"Where is that?" I asked.

"It was an abandoned jail center before Elena blew it up," Toby said. "There was a safe house inside for OS agents, but you blew it up."

"Okay, I remember that place now," Kendall said. I remember why I blew it up too.

"There was a secret safe stashed in there," Toby said.

"With a chip," I finished.

"But it's destroyed," Kendall said. "OverSight probably already took out all the important stuff including the chip."

"No harm in a search," I said.

Kendall and I quickly got ready to leave for a search mission. We would search the ruins and come straight home. Toby let us borrow his deep green Jeep. It was going to be a long road trip. Kendall insisted on driving all the way. Once the road came to an end we hid the Jeep behind some large trees. Then we hiked the rest of the way.

"Is it all clear?" Kendall asked Toby through the head piece.

"Yep, you guys are fine," he said giving us the okay.

We approached the ruins. Kendall and I separated to have a better look around. Walls were blown apart, parts of the ground were missing and you could barely tell it was a prison. Shivers ran up and down my back. I couldn't believe I did this just a couple months ago. I kept on walking.

"Anything?" Kendall asked.

"Nothing," I said. "I'm going to go look through the ruble."

"Be careful," he said.

I could make out where jail cells where and where toilets used to stand. If I was an OverSight agent where would I hide a computer chip that holds all of OverSight's secrets? I moved a large piece of wall to get a better view of things. I heard a sound behind me. I tensed and listened. Who ever they were they were coming form my left.

"Someone's here with us," I whispered.  
"I'm on m way," he said.

I whipped around and went to hit the hooded figure coming toward me. He caught my fist and kicked me in my stomach. It was more of a push than a kick. I stumbled back.

"Elena, hey it's me!" the hooded guy revealed himself to me.

"Thayer!" I said surprised.

"Elena, get down!" Kendall yelled ready to pull the trigger on Thayer. A shot rang out and I tackled Thayer to the ground. I quickly got back up to my feet.

"No, Kendall, it's okay. He's one of the good guys," I said.

"He's an OverSight cleaner," Kendall said still aiming at Thayer. I stood in between them.

"I was," Thayer corrected.

"How can you trust him?" Kendall demanded.

"We worked together when he left OverSight," I said. Kendall slowly lowered his gun. I turned to look at Thayer.

"How'd you know we were here?" I asked.

"I have this place under surveillance just in case OverSight agents decided to come and snoop around," Thayer said. "I've been waiting for those bastards any day now."

"Do you know anything about a chip?" I asked him.

"Those little black chips they used to store information? It hides all their secrets, I'm looking for it. Why?" he told me.

I smiled. So, we were on the same page. This would make our job much easier. Good thing we ran into him.

"We think it still could be hidden some where around here in the remains of this building," I said with a gesture.

"It's possible," Thayer agreed.

"It's probably not here if agents haven't come by to pick it up," Kendall said piping up. "What do you think, Toby?"

"Before I ditched OverSight I know one of the chips was located under ground," Toby responded.

"The pluming under ground," Kendall said. "Or some kind of vent."

"Sounds like a good hiding spot," I said.

"Alright, let's get to it," Thayer said.

"Why don't you let the real rouge agents do their job, huh?" Kendall snapped.

"Kendall," I said gently. "We could use Thayer's help."

"I'll take the north side," Thayer said with a smirk as he walked off. Kendall and I searched on the south side. I knew Kendall wasn't happy with Thayer's arrival. He just didn't trust him was all. Once they got to be friends Kendall won't hate him as much.

Thayer was a higher ranking OverSight agent. He could be very useful to us. He knew lots more information that we didn't. Like it or not we needed him. He could be of great help and he was a skilled fighter. He and I had our differences when we first met, but he was an ally now.

We spent most if not all of the evening searching through blasted pipes and vents. Around dusk we met up again with Thayer.

"Maybe you should come back to Toby's with us. You can help us figure out some guardians or something," I said. Kendall shot me a glance.

"Sure," Thayer said. The three of us hiked back down to the hidden Jeep. As Kendall drove, I turned to look at Thayer.

"Where have you been staying and getting those dangerous toys?" I asked eying his impressive gun.

"Here and there, no where in particular," he said with a shrug. "I have a source meeting my needs."

"They must be pretty loaded if they're just handing you explosives. You sure you can handle that?" Kendall said looking through his rear view mirror at Thayer.

"Sure can, Thorne," Thayer said.

The ride home was a lot faster than I anticipated. It was supposed to be a five hour drive , but I felt like it was cut down to only two hours.

"So this is the brains behind OverSight?" Thayer said as he and Toby shook hands.

"Yeah, they can't replace me," Toby replied humbly. I grinned.

"Let's start off tomorrow, I'm beat," Kendall said. "Everyone looks ready to crash." He was right. We were all tired, we all needed some sleep before doing anything else.

"Help yourself to anything in my home," Toby told Thayer. "Any friend of Elena's who's ready to take down OverSight is a friend of mine."

I yawned and followed Kendall inside the house and to our room. I changed into some pajamas and got ready for bed.

"You sure we can trust Thayer?" Kendall asked with his hands behind his head. I crawled under the sheets and laid down beside him.

"Do you trust me?" I asked him.

He looked me in the eyes, "You know I do."

"Then that's all you need," I replied.

He laced his fingers in mine and kissed me. My heart swelled up with emotion. I couldn't help but feeling lucky having Kendall by side. He left OverSight just to make sure I was okay. He still cared.


	3. Whizzed

Flashback: Kendall Comes Home

When Thayer first left OverSight he came to find refuge at my place. I was alone at the time. I needed all the help I could get. I had no guns or ammo except the ones I had on me they day I left. I didn't have much of a plan then. That's what Thayer and I were working together. He stayed with me for about three weeks.

Being alone and in hiding changes people. I only had Thayer to turn to. We had a brief relationship before Kendall escaped OverSight. It wasn't significant like my current relationship with Kendall but like I said loneliness does stuff to people.

One day Thayer and I were at my place. Since we didn't have much of a plan going we just hung out at my place. We were kind of watching a movie if you catch my drift. Don't get me wrong we didn't go all the way just make out a little.

"Don't move."

Knowing Thayer's disregard for the rules, he pulled away from me. He looked up and smirked with evil glee in his eyes.

"Hey, Kendall, come to turn us into OverSight?" Thayer asked sitting up.

"Shut up!" Kendall snapped. "I left OverSight!"

"Congratulations, you want a medal for that?"

Kendall advanced with his gun pointed at Thayer's chest.

"How'd you find my place in the first?" I asked lowering his barrel.

"I've been keeping a tabs on you," he said. My heart skipped a beat. He could have sold me out to OverSight but he didn't. Did he really leave them or was this a trick? I was hesitant to trust him. I didn't have anything to lose.

"Sorry, El, I gotta head off. I'll keep in touch if anything important comes up," Thayer said putting on his shirt. He leaned down to kiss me, grabbed his gun off my couch and shut the door on his way out. Kendall let his gun drop.

"How do I know you're not lying to me?" I asked eying his dropped gun. He tossed his gun to me.

"I couldn't kill her," Kendall said. "They wanted me to kill a girl. I couldn't kill her. I saw her and I saw you. I couldn't do it, El."

I woke up pretty early. I felt energized and refreshed. My stomach growled at me for food. I hopped out of bed and went down stairs to the kitchen. I grabbed cereal and poured in some milk. Oddly, cereal never tasted this good.

"So, you're with Kendall now?" Thayer asked sitting opposite me on the island in the kitchen.

"Yep," I said with a nod. He crossed his arms and watched me eat.

"What ever happened to waiting for me?" he asked. I forgot to chew and I almost choked. I coughed. After I caught my breath, I responded.

"Wait for you?" I demanded. "You left me for eight months. No word from you, no nothing! You honestly expected me to wait for you? We were never exclusive! I was a free agent."

I wasn't sure if he was hurt or angry with me. He and I both knew we wouldn't last. Things just happened. Kendall was there and he wasn't. He didn't even try and look for me. This was his own fault not mine. This would be touchy subject we both didn't want to get into. I better change the subject.

"So do you know who the guardian is?" I asked.

"I only know what he looks like," he responded.

"Hey, you two are up early," Toby yawned.

"Thayer may know who a guardian is," I said

"Cool, I can pull up pictures of them and possibly where they're located," Toby said. He and Thayer left the kitchen as Kendall came in.

"Where are they off to?" Kendall asked coming behind me.

"Doing some research," I said. I looked up at him. He bent down and we kissed.

"Someone's in a good mood this morning," I said.

"I heard you talking to him."

"Kendall-,"

"Only claiming what's mine." He bent down and kissed me some more. I kissed him back and pulled away. We went to go join Toby and Thayer.

"Anything?" Kendall asked. Toby looked at us nervously and back at his screen. He bit his lip before speaking.

"It's Rief," Toby said.

I gasped.

"Rief? As in Rief Barlow?" Kendall asked surprised.

Toby nodded.

Rief was a recruit trainer like Kendall back in OverSight. But then he chose to be a field agent. He trained me for some time and he trained Kendall and Toby. I guess he moved up to a guardian. Guardians were stationed in place to keep the computer chip safe.

"Is he still part of OverSight?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, " Toby said. "They won't just let him go. He's too valuable. He's stationed some where in Toronto. Once I get his full story, I'll let you know."

"No," Thayer said. "I'll go. I kill this guardian off and bring you the chip."

"We'll go with you," Kendall said.

"You three have already done most of the dirty work," he said. "I want to have some kind of input binging down OverSight."

"You can't go in there with out back up!" I snapped angrily. "Will you stop acting like the hero?"

"I'm no fucking hero, El, but I know how to act like one," he said.  
I rolled my eyes.

Thayer could be so stupid and stubborn. He couldn't do this alone. He knows that. This was just like him trying to play the role of lone wolf. It really irked me. Kendall and I were going with him with or without his permission.

In just a few hours, Toby had the Rief's exact location. We managed to convince him to head to Canada tomorrow morning. He would stay for one more night.

"He can't go alone," Kendall said.

"I know," I said. "I'll go with him."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Kendall said.

"Why not me?"

"Because you scare the crap out of me when you go one mission. You take crazy risks."

"That's why no one would be partner," I said with a slight smile.

It was settled we would both go with him. Toby let us borrow his private jet for transportation. This wasn't a road trip mission. Rief's home was a few states away. Kendall was going to be the pilot because he was the only one with a license to drive planes. He got it back in OverSight where he was trained.

"Land just outside the boundaries of Barlow Manor," Toby told us.

Kendall got us up in the ground smoothly. I sat up front by Kendall and Thayer sat behind us. All we could see were white clouds.

"You guys didn't have to come," Thayer said finally speaking up.

"Shut up!" Kendall and I said.

"You can't drive a plane so you need me," Kendall said.

"And I'm not just going to stay at home waiting for you guys to get home," I said looking over my shoulder at Thayer. We landed in a small clearing about an hour later.

"Will it be safe if we just leave it here, Toby?" I asked into my communicator and adjusting my belt.

"Yep, no one is around for miles," Toby replied.

"Alright, let's go," Thayer said.

We jogged into the forest. The cool wind felt good on my skin. My blood was full on adrenaline making me alert and ready. After a couple minutes we finally reached the property.

"Whoa, place is heavily guarded," I said. The place was crawling with armed security. There was only seven just in plain view. This was not going to be easy.

"There must be a blind spot some where," Thayer muttered.

"Hard to find with all this security," Kendall reminded him. "We'll need some sort of distraction."

"I can do that," I said rising to my feet. "You two figure out what to do amongst yourselves. Wish me luck." I ran behind the bushes still unseen by security.

"Elena!"

I neared towards the front. I got a clear view of the front of the house. I reached to my hip. I pulled out my gun. I took aim and shot at a window. It shattered. Just as I suspected security went wild and bullets flew my way. I ducked and shot back. Hopefully, that gave them the distraction they needed. I stayed hidden as long as I could.  
"Keep it up, El, Kendall and Thayer are inside the house," Toby said. Still unseen I made my way back to where I left the guys. Surely, the bullets followed. I had many close calls with bullets whistling past my head.

Kendall dashed past me. He took off into the trees. I waited for Thayer to come out before running off. A couple moments went by until Thayer came out to help me out. He shot at them too. He looked over at me. He gave me the signal to run and I did. I tore off after him in the trees.

"Where's Kendall?" I asked.

"He took a head start so when we got there we can just bolt," Thayer said.

A few seconds later bullets were shot from everywhere. I pushed myself to run faster. And then I was hit. Well not hit, it just whizzed past my arm but still made contact. My arm was bleeding and it hurt.

"Thayer!" I said holding my bleeding arm. He skid to a halt and ran back to me. He scooped me up in his arms and ran.

"How much further?" I asked wincing as he ran.

"I see it!" he said. I heard the propellers going. He got us in and we were lifted off the ground. Once we were safe in the air, Kendall turned to look at us.

"What's wrong?"

"Whizzed shot," Thayer said.

"But she's bleeding!"

Kendall came over to me. My whole arm was bloody including my hand.

"You're losing a lot of blood," Kendall said touching my cheek. "We should-"

"I'll make it," I insisted.

"Damn it, Elena!" he snapped. H tried to bandage my arm with a small towel he found in the bathroom of the jet. It stopped some of the bleeding. By the time we landed back home I was feeling dizzy. Kendall carried me into the house. Toby was waiting with warm water and bandages.

"She needs rest," Toby said after he cleaned me up. I was ready to pass out on him. Thayer caught me from falling.

"I'll take her," Kendall muttered. He carried me up to our room. He helped me out of my bloody clothes and into clean ones.

"You want to sleep it off, El?" Kendall asked laying me down.

"Stay," I muttered. He climbed into bed with me. He held me close. Finally, feeling out of danger I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.


	4. Gone

Flashback: Killer

"Hit them. Hit them fast and never look into their eyes," Kendall told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Cause then you won't be able to kill 'em," he said.

This mission determined if I was moved up in ranks from being a recruit to a field agent. So far I was a graduate just in between recruit and a field agent. It's a major transition. Kendall was the guy in charge of the recruits and helped them make the change between the two ranks. He was leading the mission but I was the one who would do all the killing, to make sure no evidence was left behind of OverSight. We were going to break into a high security bank that held something OverSight needed.

I didn't follow Kendall's advice. I looked into the poor clerk's eyes. He knew it was coming. His death was in my hands. I couldn't pull the trigger but I had to if not OverSight would kill me. Kill or be killed was the motto.

This man meant something to some one out there. He probably had a family waiting for him at home. He had kids who needed him and here I was about to take his life. No doubt about it, I was always going to have his eyes scarred in my mind. My first kill.

I pulled the trigger and he fell on to the marble floor, motionless. He was gone. That night I was into a field agent. This occasion was supposed to be a time of joy that I no longer had the silly tag of a recruit. But I kept seeing the man's eyes pleading.

After the mission, I went to the armory to stow away my gun. It felt cold in my hands. I've never felt a hot gun before and I never wanted to. Someone opened the door behind me.

"You alright?" It was Kendall.

"Did you feel the same?" I asked. "Disgusted with yourself. A little less human?"

He walked over to me and took the gun out of my hands. He put it back in a drawer and close it. My hands were shaking a bit.

"Yeah," he said. "My humanity has been long gone. After so many lives you take, humanity seems like a distant thing in the past."

I opened m eyes and breathed in heavily. I felt strangely comfortable. My injured arm was wrapped in a white cloth. It had a soft red on it. Most of the bleeding had stopped by now.

"Good morning," Kendall said coming in with a tray of pancakes, bacon and juice. He sat it in front of me.

"Morning," I said. We kissed.

"You had me fucking worried," Kendall said.

"I'm sorry," I said and kissed his lips. I grabbed a fork and put a piece of pancake in my mouth. I ate for a while. Outside looked beautiful. It was sunny and the warmth of the sun filled the room.

"Where's Toby and Thayer?" I asked taking a sip of my drink.

"Toby's downstairs working on the chip," Kendall said. "And Thayer left this morning."

"What?" I yelped. "Why'd he leave? Why didn't he leave until I talked to him?"

"You know how he is," Kendall said. I noted a bit of pleasure in his voice. I gave a nod.

Toby was have a hard time cracking the chip. Usually he was quick on these kinds of things but not on this one. I had a slight hope that this was the one that contained all the information we need. We wouldn't have to search any longer. I tried not to be hopeful.

"What are you going to do with it?" Toby asked me.

"Expose OverSight," I said.


	5. Lies & Traps

Flashback: Memories

After I graduated from recruit to field agent I returned to report my assignments. Kendall was still training recruits at headquarters. And at that time OverSight still had Toby as a mastermind. I felt highly sophisticated walking into the sparring gym with my blue jeans, a purple V-neck and black boots. Instead of the usual ponytail I wore here, I had my hair down. Their uniforms reminded me of imprisonment here.

I spotted Kendall with a younger recruit girl. I felt a rush of jealousy run through me as he sparred with her. So what if touched her hips instead of her back in that flip? I didn't care. I had no reason to be jealous. I leaned against the railing that divided the leveled gym. I crossed my arms and waited.

He caught me waiting and lured the girl to work with someone else. The poor recruit sent daggers my way. I couldn't help but smile a little.

"What brings back the great assassin Elena Knight back to headquarters? Surely you don't miss this place," Kendall said.

"Shut up!" I said swatting at him playfully.

He grinned at me and sat on the railing beside me. He watched his recruits. "So, what are you doing here?" he asked looking at me with interest.

"Reminiscing old times, I guess," I said.

Kendall's eyes light up with amusement. "Yeah, okay," he said and punched my shoulder.

We both laughed. What memories?

Toby was still working hard to decode that damned chip. In the mean time, Kendall and I took a break from all those missions or so I had planned out. One night while we were having dinner and out of no where a phone rang out. Nobody had a phone here. It was too risky, OverSight could track lines.

"Not me," Toby said. We looked over at Kendall.

"It's Delaine," he said.

"Answer it," I urged.

Delaine is Kendall's half sister. We found her a couple months ago. We had little contact with her for her safety. I didn't know Kendall had some phone with her.

"Whoa, slow down. Who attacked you? Where are you now?" he asked into the phone."Okay, I'm on my way, don't worry."

He got up and dashed out of the dining room. Toby and I were right at his heels, concerned and wanting to know what happened.

"What happened?" Toby asked.

"Someone's after my sister," Kendall said. We got to our room. He grabbed a jacket and grabbed a loaded gun.

"I'm going with you," I said. I pulled a sweater over my head and grabbed a gun too.

"Wait, you guys!" Toby said.

"I'm not waiting! My sister needs me!" There was no point in talking him out of it. Toby handed us each an ear piece communicators as we walked out the door. It was going to be a three hour drive and Kendall was driving like a mad man.

"You're going to get us killed," I said as he shifted his way through traffic. He didn't respond. We finally got a rural suburb. "Where are we?"

"Blackwell, I lived a couple towns down," Kendall said.

Kendall pulled into a neighborhood and stopped in front of a one story brown house. The neighborhood was quiet. We got out of the car to knock on the door. I knocked and took a step back. An older man opened the door.

"Hi, is Delaine here? I'm Kendall her older brother," Kendall said.

He looked over his shoulder and yelled, "Delaine! Julia!" In just a couple second two girls tore down to greet us.

"Kendall!" Delaine said relieved. She and Kendall hugged. The Julia girl was painfully familiar. I ranked my brain to try and remember any Julia's I might have met. No dice. The girls followed us out to the porch.

"You guys alright?" came Toby's voice. I slipped away from them. I headed back to the car.

""Yeah, she seems fine. She's staying with a friend," I said. "Toby?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you do a back round check on who ever lives here?"

"Sure, just give me the address."

"7630 Carter Terrace."

"Hey, El, come here," Kendall said coming over to me. I turned to look at him. "I want you to meet my sister."

"Okay," I said with a slight smile as he pushed my hair back. He laced his fingers in mine and we walked over to Delaine and Julia.

"Delaine, this is Elena. She and I are together," Kendall said. She smiled at me and I smiled back. Julia stared at me with hatred. "Will you be okay if we leave? I mean you seem to be doing fine now." He put an arm around me.

"No, don't leave yet," Delaine said sounding a bit panicked.

"We can't stay," I said looking up at Kendall. He knew we couldn't.

"You don't care about Delaine," Julia finally said. She hadn't said anything since I returned.

"No, it's not that," I said in a rush. "Kendall, you know we can't." We were out in the open. OverSight could track us down, he knew that.

"We can stay for one night," Kendall told me. "Couldn't hurt." I gave a nod.

We stayed there for the rest of the evening. What irked me the most was that this Julia girl was flirting with Kendall. To make matters worse, he either didn't care or was completely oblivious to it. Did we not make it clear that we were together when we first got here?

Strangely enough, the man who answered the door never showed up again. He didn't call in with Julia or check up on us. Something odd was going on around here and it happened to involve Julia, I knew it. Towards the end of the day Kendall promised to return tomorrow before we left.

"Did Delaine ever go into detail of what happened?" I asked.

"Yeah. She found her parents dead when she returned from Julia's house. And who ever did it wanted to kill her off right then and there," he told me. "What's wrong?"

The car had stopped moving. I blinked. We were in a rest area with other cars. I didn't even notice we had gone on a high way. I was in deep concentration to notice anything.

"That Julia girl, something's not right with her, don't you think?" I asked.

"Are you sure you're not just jealous?" Kendall asked me.

"No!" I said. I could feel my cheeks start to burn. Of course I was jealous but I knew what I was saying. That girl was involved with this more than we know. Usually, he would take up my side on this kind of stuff. He wasn't now, why?

"I think you are," he teased me.

"You got another thing coming if you think I see that little girl as competition!" I said angrily.

"I'm just playing, El," Kendall said. "Don't be mad." I didn't respond. He pulled me onto his lap. I fidgeted in his arms, I wanted to be mad not sink in and cave.

"Let me go!" I snapped. "I want to be mad at you!" He held me down until I stopped moving.

"I'm sorry, okay?"he apologized wrapping his arms around my hips and looking into my eyes. I kissed his lips and he kissed me back. I pulled away but he returned. I wrapped my hands around his neck. He definitely knew how to wrap me around his finger. He pulled away.

"You're so cute when you're all wound up and ready to fight," he said.

"Shut up," I said laughing and kissed his lips.

The next morning we went to go say goodbye to Delaine and Julia. Delaine was persistent on staying another day; Julia was in a hurry to get us out of there.

"Hey, El, you got a minute?" Toby's voice said through my ear piece.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked.

"You need to get away from there and take Kendall's sister with you guys!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Julia isn't who she says she is. She's an OS agent. Her real name is Lila Maye."

"Alright."

I touched my side to make sure my gun was still there. I looked up at the door. The three of them were gone. The door was open just a crack. I pulled out my gun and quickly followed them inside. It was quiet inside the house. I didn't dare speak just in case Lila was still around. I was in the clear down stairs. I went up the stairs next. At the top of the stairs I heard Lila's voice.

"I have Kendall and his bratty sister. I'm after Elena," Lila said.

I rushed in and slammed myself into her. The phone went flying into the air. Kendall and Delaine were both knocked out on the ground.

"Stupid bitch!" I hissed. I twisted her arm and kicked her stomach. She landed a good punch on my cheek. Now she really had me pissed off. I flung myself on her and beat the crap out of her. It felt so liberating but I knew I had to stop. We needed to get out of here. "Think twice before double crossing us and hitting on my boyfriend."

I quickly put Kendall and Delaine into the car and drove off fast. OverSight would have to come and get her. I thought about going back to kill her but I just forced myself to keep on driving. Half way towards the drive home, Delaine woke up.

"What happened?" she asked grabbing her head.

"Julia attacked you."

"Why?"

"Because she's one of the bad guys."

Kendall woke up alarmed. He spluttered around and looked around frantically.

"Hey, hey," I said soothingly. "You're okay, I got you out of there."

"Stupid bitch!" Kendall spat angrily. He kicked the glove compartment angrily. "She works for OverSight."

"I know," I said. "I told you something wasn't right with her."

"Can someone please explain to me what OverSight is?" Delaine asked.

"They're a black ops program," Kendall told her. "They take out anyone who isn't doing things their way for our country."

"What about you two?" Delaine asked us.

"We left OverSight a while back," I said.

I drove us back to Toby's house. Kendall didn't even insist that he drive. We all drifted off to our rooms to rest. I helped Delaine prepare her room just a couple doors down from us.

"We should probably train her," I said. "If OverSight tracked her what makes you think they won't do it again."

"It's not a bad idea," Kendall said. "We'll start tomorrow."

He changed into more comfortable clothes. I took off my belt and set it back in the closet.

"I told you that girl was shady," I said. "You should have listened to me." He didn't respond for a second.

"I knew that was Lila," Kendall said quietly.

"Then why didn't you say something! We could have avoided that whole fiasco! Shit like that makes me wonder if you're really on my side!"

"I was giving her the benefit of the doubt."

"And look how she repaid you."

"I'm sorry, okay? I learned my lesson."

"You could have been killed!"  
"But I wasn't because I knew you had my back," he said caressing my face in his hands. I could feel my anger dissolve as he looked me in the eyes. I sighed heavily. He kissed my lips. We got ready for bed.

The next day we got up early and headed outside to train Delaine. Well, Kendall did most of the training. I just sat and watched and pitched in when I was needed. She got a couple moves down but I know she was working hard to keep her brother satisfied. We ended earlier than we wanted to because it started to get cold outside. The weather was starting to change. Soon it would be colder outside and snow would fall. The days would be shorter and darker too.


	6. Unlocking the Impossible

Flashback: Australia Trip

It was around the time Kendall just left OverSight. He and I were working together now. Since he just left OverSight we had a better idea of where they planned to strike next. According to Kendall, they were heading to Australia to eliminate the ambassador for some idiotic reason about not supporting the United States. Obviously, he and I were flying out there to crash the party. Literally, there was some festivity going on at the capital.

"See any OverSight agents?" I asked Kendall through the ear piece.

"Yeah, two guys by the fountain. They're wearing black suits," he responded. I turned to look to where he described. I saw two young boys fit to be recruits.

"Poor boys," I said. "They're new to this."

"Heads up, they're on the move!"

"On it."

The two naive recruits headed over to the bar. I checked my reflection one last time and touched my upper thigh to make sure my gun was still in place. I wore a black dress just cut short from my knees. It was a simple one sleeved dress. My hair was shiny and down my back. I followed the boys.

"You guys new here?" I asked the better looking of the recruits.

He looked over to me and his eyes popped out of his head a little. I smiled flirtatiously.

"Just on a little vacation," he told me. His partner nudged and shook his head.

"Well, you're in the wrong place," I said taking a seat on the stool. I crossed my legs. "Other better places for two Americans like yourselves."

I was hoping this guy would take a seat so I could give Kendall more time. I saw him talking to the ambassador.

"Why don't you buy me a drink I can tell you all about the places to hit up?" I suggested. His partner nudged him again.

"We got some business to take care of," he told me. "Once I get through with that I'll come back and we can talk. What you say?"

"I'll be waiting," I said with a smile.

"You're pushing it, El," Kendall said as the two walked away from.

"Jealous, are we?"

"You know I am.." I looked over to find Kendall. He and the ambassador were gone. He must have told him. I waited for the all clear signal. I kept my eyes on the recruits. They were panicking that the ambassador was out of their sights. Never trust a pretty woman, I thought to myself.

"Come out front, let's bolt," Kendall said a couple minutes later. I hopped off my stool seat and left the party unnoticed. Kendall was out front on a motorcycle. He handed me a helmet. I put it on and got on behind him. I wrapped my arms securely around his middle.

"Ready?" he asked me. I gave a nod.  
He tore off after a car I expected to be the ambassador's.

"This must be the chip," I said one morning to Toby as we sat near his computer.

"Maybe," Toby said chewing on his pencil's eraser. "These things are tough. They have a whole bunch of barriers and protection. I feel like I've been going in circles."

Delaine and Kendall were in the other living room sparring a bit. Delaine was taking her training seriously. She trained twenty four seven.

Sometimes I wish I could be like Toby. How did he ever get so good at hacking, I will never know. I could do simple hacking that recruits were trained to do like shut down a home security system or heck into some personal information. Toby could hack into a whole organizations system and break down protective barriers. There was no one like him out there. We were lucky to have him on our side.

"Whoa, I got it!" Toby said jumping out of his chair. "I don't know how I did it but I did!"

"No way! You serious?" I asked my heart skipping a beat.

"Yeah," he said. I jumped up and down in delight and hugged his smart ass.

"Damn, look at all this stuff!" Toby said navigating his way into the information we needed so badly. "All the missions ever made, recruits, agents. Everything."

"They're going down," I said smiling.

"What are we looking at?" Delaine asked as she and Kendall came in to the room.

"Toby did it. He cracked it," I said.

"No way," Kendall said. I nodded.

We all crowded around Toby looking at the information. There was so much the higher ranking operatives never told us about. Most of it was done behind the government's back, a lot of it was unapproved. They could be in major trouble if the United States government found out about it. The funding would stop and OverSight would be done with.

"So you want to send this straight to the web?" Toby asked me. I shook my head.

"I think it's time we contact our friends at OverSight," I said.

Toby quickly developed a one way shell program which means we could video chat with out them finding our location. Delaine and Kendall helped me set up a green screen and bring in pillows. We needed the pillows were there to drown out any sound or echo out of the room.

"I should speak with OverSight too," Kendall said.

"Why?" I asked. "I declared war on them not you."

"They're my enemy too, El," he said. "They should know by now that we're working together. Stop protecting me, alright? OverSIght can't hurt me."

"But it's better if they just target me," I protested.

"And if they do and they kill you off what the hell am I going to do with out you?" he asked me. I gave a little shrug.

"I got your back, El," he told me.

"You guys ready?" Toby asked us. We gave a nod. I pulled the laptop toward me. A long black cable was connected to Toby's main computer to monitor them and possibly get out information as I speak with them. I logged on and I was immediately transferred into OverSight's communication room. There were two rows full of computers with operatives glued to the screen working away.

"Hi, Kasim," I said spotting the head of OverSight. He either looked at me with pure hatred or utter amazement. "So, I found this." I held up the sacred chip. "You and I both know what I can do with this. Just as I'm casting to you live, I can do the same with just one button."

"What do you want, Elena?" Kasim asked me.

"You know perfectly well what I want."

"That won't happen as long I'm around."

"I have the chip Kasim, I can send it to the government and they will discontinue your funding."

Kasim laughed now. "Go on ahead broadcast it live. I have a whole division of operatives who are specifically looking for any such thing through all the media! We are very much prepared for this. We are everywhere and you are only one person. Tell me who's helping you? Kendall, always did have a soft spot for you, didn't he?"

Kendall advanced but I gave him a death stare to keep away from me talking to Kasim. His words were taking a toll on me because in a way it was true.

"Don't under estimate me, Kasim," I said and logged off.

I was beyond angry, not angry frustrated beyond belief. How could I have been so stupid and thought it was going to be this simple? Kasim was bound to be ready for me.

"Elena?" Kendall asked. I stood up and rushed out of the room. Next thing I know I'm outside in the cold and I'm pacing. I wanted to throw a childish fit. Wind tossed my hair into my face. I pushed it back.

"Damn it!" I breathed. I heard the door behind me close. Kendall sat down on the porch steps.

"We were this close!" I said. "We did all that for nothing. Kasim will always be one step ahead of us."

"It's okay, we'll start coming up with a new plan," he said.

"How Kendall? How! He's right they have an army of people and resources," I said. "We just have Toby and Thayer! We don't have enough ammo to stop them all. How Kendall? How!"

He got up and took me in his arms. "We can do this, El," he told me. I left OverSight because you were right. OverSight has gone way out of control and Kasim needs to be stopped. I'm not letting you give up what you started, El."

I sighed. It was feeling pretty damn impossible by now. Almost hopeless to even try and fight them.

"We'll be fine," he said making me look at him. "Okay?"

I gave a nod. He pulled me into a tight hug. I laid my head on his chest. I couldn't help but feel quite miserable. Never have I felt this miserable or down, not since I was in OverSight. But Kendall was right, I wasn't going to stop what I started. Kasim would only have to anticipate something much bigger from me.


	7. ReadyAGent

Flashback: On the Run

徹kay, it's safe to come out now,Luis said peeling off his poster. Light splashed into my hiding area in his wall. He moved out of m way and I quietly hopped out on to his bed. 鄭re you going to tell me who you're running away from last night? Or your name even?"

的t's better if you know none of that,I replied sitting on his bed. He gave me a Coke and two cold slices of pizza on a plate. I felt better having something in my stomach. I hadn't had much to eat since I escaped.

I had OverSight on a wild goose chase after me all night that is until I kind of broke into Luis' home and he hid me. I was no doubt eternally grateful. He and I were the same age but he knew nothing of OverSight. Lucky for him. Once I thought everything was in the clear I would scamper off. I didn't want to put him and his family in danger.

的t must be something really bad if you're carrying a gun around,he said eying my gun on my hip. I touched it self consciously.

添ou have no idea,I said. 的 wouldn't wish this on anyone."

的 wouldn't want to come across you in a dark alley,he said.

Hopefully, OverSight thought the same.

鼎ome here, El, take a look at this,Toby said one November evening.

Snow was fluttering outside. It covered the trees and and grass in a wonderfully white fluffy blanket. There were small imprints in the snow where small animals had gone by during the night hours.

展hat's up?I asked.

展hen you were talking to Kasim a couple weeks ago I was keeping a tabs on the monitors that the operatives were working on,"

鄭nd?"

的t looked like they were planning to reactivate ReadyAgent?"

徹kay, so what is that?"

Toby rubbed his head in confusion and tried to explain it to me. 的t's like, how can I explain this, they have OverSight operatives out there where they can be triggered with a certain object, possibly a frequency giving them an instruction."

典hey're brainwashed?I asked crossing my arms.

He shook his head. 的 don't know. I'll do some research and get back to you."

Kendall had taken Delaine out of the house for a while. Poor girl, she must have felt trapped in this house. She wasn't used to being cut away from the entire world. She needed to be out in the normal world with people not here with us.

On the other hand we couldn't just send her off into the outside world. OverSight was after her. They could catch her and torture her. We didn't want that. She wouldn't make it out on her own.

展hat about boarding school?I asked one night as Kendall and I lay in bed together. 敵et her a fake ID and birth certificate."

的t's not a bad idea,he said. I saw him roll onto his back in the dark.

鉄he'll have to be careful,I added.

的 can afford it,he said. Now he laid on his side to look at me. He intertwined his fingers in mine.

敵ood night, Elena,he yawned widely.

哲ight, Kendall,I whispered.

Delaine agreed to the idea. She actually liked it a lot. We looked up boarding schools near by and managed to get her in before the semester started. A couple days later she called in to say that everything was fine.

的 finally figured out what ReadyAgent is, they're agents with electrodes implanted in their brains. When activated, it stimulates the agent to believe they are under attack, usually they have some sort of command in their deep memory. They will act on that bit of command alone what ever the instruction in that memory holds,Toby told me one morning.

滴ave they been activated before?I asked.

Toby shrugged. It sounded very much like Kasim's twisted idea for control. I couldn't possibly be a ReadyAgent, not that I could remember anyway.

It was bitter cold out. There wasn't much talk about any current mission. We all wanted to stay in the warm. I nagged the guys about having Christmas. I even got Kendall to come outside with me to find a possible Christmas tree.

展e can have a Christmas dinner!I said leading the way outside.

鄭nd who would we have over?he asked me.

典hayer, Delaine and us. Who else would we want over? It'll be great! We can have presents and games."

He laughed. Our voices echoed in the wind. Snow crunched under our feet and left tracks behind us. It was a bit eerie, but yet it felt so fresh to walk outside and not be cooped up inside. We walked a couple of yards before stopping at a tree.

After we brought a tree indoors, we came to set it near the fire place. Then I took a quick shower before going to bed. Kendall was already in our room. He swept me off my feet and carried me into our soft warm bed. He kissed my lips.

添ou're acting very cute today,I said laughing kissing his lips.

溺e? I'm always cute,he said pulling the warm blanket over us. I laughed.

He kissed me for a long time. 滴appy birthday, Elena."


	8. Elena's Birthday

Flashback: Kendall's Birthday

"Happy birthday, Kendall," Kasim said as he passed through the training room.

"Thank you, sir," Kendall said.

It was Kendall's birthday. He couldn't be much older than I was, maybe a year or so older. Ever since I got here to OverSight a couple weeks ago I couldn't help, but feel this attraction to the recruit leader. He had his character that flared at times. I guess that's why I was attracted to him.

I ran on the treadmill. He watched us work out for a while. He walked around the room surveying us individually. When he was inspecting me I could feel his eyes linger on me before moving on.

"Don't even bother," one girl said beside me. She was about to get on the treadmill. "No relationships allowed in OverSight."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Kasim says it'll mess with you emotionally, if you get too emotionally involved it'll interfere with the mission."

I gave a nod that I understood. I wasn't looking for a relationship at the time. I was still coping over the fact that my adoptive parents were killed in an accident. OverSight expected you to be a quick healer, but I wasn't. Instead of being thrust in the foster care system Kasim came. He told me he knew of a place that I could have home, a real home. Boy, did he trick me! He tricked me good.

I spotted Kendall leaving the training room on the opposite side. I hopped off my machine and jogged on over to the near by water fountain. I took a sip of water and slipped out of the training room to follow. He was down the hall.

"Kendall!" I called. He turned to look at me.

"What's wrong, recruit?" he asked me.

"Oh, um nothing," I said all of a sudden going all shy. "So, it's your birthday?"

He looked at me kind of funny. "Yeah, I bet you have one too. What's your name recruit?"

"Elena Knight."

I reached into my sweats pocket and pulled out my matches. It was the only thing I was able to save after I was brought here. I swiped the remaining match on the box. It lit up at once.

"Make a wish," I told him.

He looked at me and then at the match. He bent down and blew on it.

"Should I keep the match for luck?" Kendall asked me.

"All yours," I said and handed it to him. He smiled a little in gratitude and walked away from me.

"Happy birthday, El," Toby said as I came down the stairs.

"Thanks," I said.

"You got anything planned?" he asked.

I snorted like I had something planned for a birthday I forgot! "I've never celebrated my birthday before."

"Well, that's about to change," Kendall said and kissed my cheek.

We had breakfast together like every morning. Half way through Kendall's meal his phone rang out.

"It's probably Delaine," Kendall said and answered the phone. We didn't hear anything coming out of the other side.

Things happened real fast. Next thing I know I'm in a full fledged fight with Kendall. He threw me on to the table and I blinked, confused.

Hey!" I said. "What's wrong? Talk to me, Kendall." I shoved him across the room.

"He's a ReadyAgent, Elena!" Toby said. He ran our of the dinning room. Kendall tore after him. What could I do so I wouldn't hurt him? I quickly grabbed the decorated rope that held the curtains and tore after him. Kendall was in the kitchen and a knife was thrown at me.

"Kendall!" I yelled and swatted a knife away with the rope. "Stop!"

I tied his hands with the rope. He kicked me away. I slammed him against a wall. Toby reappeared with a massive gun in his hands.

"I need help not blow his brains out!" I said.

"It's a tranquilizer gun," he told me. Kendall broke free from my restrain and I fell on the marble floor. A swift shot rang out. A tiny bullet hit his shoulder. It worked immediately and he fell to the ground. I caught him and set him down gently.

Toby set down his gun against a wall. He came to inspect him.

"His eyes are dilated and his heart rate is beating like crazy and he seems to be full of adrenaline," Toby said. "Something must have triggered it. I'm guessing the phone call had to do with it."

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Nothing until he wakes up and see what kind of state he's in," Toby said.

With Toby's help, we heaved him over to the couch in the living room. Then we went to clean up the mess we made. A knife was stuck to a wall. If I didn't move in those seconds that could have been my head.

Some birthday this was turning out to be. My boyfriend almost man slaughtered me. It wasn't what I expected, but it was a lot more eventful than I wanted it to be!

Kendall was out for a good couple hours. He didn't regain consciousness until six that evening. He woke up panicked and alarmed. He almost jumped out of the sofa if it wasn't for me holding him down.

"Hey, hey," I said sitting beside him. "You're okay, you're fine. I'm here." He was gasping for air and looking around. I calmed him down. He finally seemed to recognize who I was.

"Elena?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm here, you're okay," I said pushing his hair back. "You're a ReadyAgent. The phone triggered something." He grabbed his shoulder where dart had hit him.

He blinked. "I ruined your birthday," he said.

"Ruined it?" I asked laughing. "You made it something I won't forget!"

He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. "I saw you and everything in me told me to stop and I couldn't like I wasn't in control."

"Shh, it's over now, okay?" I said. He opened his eyes and sat up.

"You alright, man?" Toby asked from the arch way between the living room and kitchen. He had the tranquilizer gun in his hands.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kendall said.

And then the worst happened. The glass shattered. Kendall quickly put his arms around me and we hit the floor. Bullets whizzed past us. I heard Toby hit the floor too. We didn't have any guns on us! If we didn't get some quick we'd be toast.

"We're being under attack!" Toby yelled. Kendall's body was above mine protecting me from harm. I spotted some thing shiny under the couch. I prayed that it was a gun. I reached over. Yes!

"Toby!" I yelled and slid it over to him on the floor. He grabbed it and with both gun rose up and started shooting.

"It doesn't have any bullets!" he yelled. My heart sank. We were going to die! Men swarmed in from all sorts of places.

"Kendall!" I yelled as a man came over. A gun flew right in his face. Toby had thrown us some gun from the kitchen. We quickly scramble behind the couch for cover. We shot back.

"We can't beat them, we're over numbered!" Kendall said as he shot.

"I know!" I said.

"Guys duck!" Toby yelled. He threw a detonator into the air. Oh my God!

It exploded and covered myself with my hands. Everything in it's radius exploded. I'm surprised I'm here to tell the tale. I heard glass shatter and the smell of smoke filled my nose and lungs.

"Elena? You okay? Say something!" came Kendall's worried voice. I opened my eyes. He sighed out of relief when I looked up at him. He covered his nose and mouth with his shirt. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

He helped me to my feet and I covered my nose and mouth. The house was set a blaze except for a wall that had been knocked down by the explosion. I followed him out with Toby.

Thankfully, Toby's garage wasn't attached to the house. We stumbled to it in the dark. It was a huge four car garage with an upper floor. The light turned on as we entered.

"Let's get some supplies and bolt," Toby said. We nodded in agreement.

We set up emergency bags here in the garage just in case something like this happened. We set them when we first came to live with Toby. We never used them until now. It mostly contained of clothes, guns, ammunition, a laptop and pre-paid disposable phones.

"I'll restart your shell program," Toby said. "I'll set up our next home until then don't do anything please!" We gave a nod that we understood.

"You want me to drive?" I asked Kendall.

"No, I'll drive," he said.

"Be careful," Toby told us.

"You too," we said as the garage door opened. We tore off into the night. We got onto a lonely high way.

"Get some fake ID's and money, will you?" Kendall asked. "I think they're in my bag." I reached on over and unzipped the side of the bag. I pulled out a wad of cash and two fake ID's

"Let me drive, you didn't rest," I said.

"I'm fine," Kendall said stubbornly. We drove for hours silently. His mind was some where else. His eyes were on the road, but I could tell his thoughts were beyond the road.

"Kendall, it wasn't your fault," I finally said as he got towards an exit in Chicago. Towards the horizon I could see the sun peeking it's way through.

"Yes, it is," he said. "When they activated me they were able to find our location."

"It still isn't your fault," I told him.

"I knew I was a ReadyAgent," he said still looking at the road and not at me.

We rode a couple more minutes in silence. No matter what he said I couldn't blame him. He didn't want this to happen. He never wanted to sell us out.

We found a cheap motel to stay at. The man behind the counter didn't ask for much just payment and names, no proof no nothing. We settled into a room. We agreed we'd only be here for only a couple hours to take a nap. He picked up a newspaper that was on the night stand. I went over by him.

"Kendall?"

"Hmm?"

"I promise you it wasn't your fault."

"Well, it sure feels like it."

I climbed into bed with him and kissed him. He put down the newspaper and kissed me back. I pulled away. But he kissed me some more. He finally pulled away. I turned off the lamp and laid beside him. He kissed one more time deeply.

"Thank you," he muttered.

Later on that day we decided to find a somewhat more permanent residence to establish. We found a small condo in a good looking neighborhood. The real estate agent was surprised of how quick we were to make a decision and we were willing to pay up front.

"Looks like we're sleeping on the floor tonight," Kendall said bringing in the bags." I turned on the heater to warm up the place."

"I don't mind," I said. "We can go buy some stuff for this place."

"Don't get too excited," Kendall said. "We aren't staying for long."


	9. The Message

One Year Later.

"Alright, one more time," Kendall said.

"I'll go in through the hidden entry, make my way into the office and deliver the message," I recited.

"And?"

"I tell him the message, if he puts up a fight I slice his throat and leave before any one notices," I said. Kendall nodded.

We were working our way into invading OverSight. We planned everything with much more precision. We needed to make sure Kasim wouldn't be ahead of us.

Over the year we grew in numbers. A brother and sister managed to escape OverSight and we took them off the street so Kasim wouldn't get to them. They were willing to help us out and we needed all the help we could get. Casey the older brother was already made into an agent and his sister Bailey was still a recruit. Delaine still in her boarding school found a boy that OverSight was after. She and her friend went into hiding as well. Toby was able to recruit a former OverSight spy who left his post some while ago. Thayer recruit his current girlfriend. By then, I was feeling a little more confident then last year when it was just us four.

"Why can't we go?" Casey asked as I made dinner one night.

"You are going," Kendall said.

"As back up," Casey reminded us.

"The uniform only fits me," I said. "If it fit you, you would be doing this."

"We're glad we can help," Bailey said cheerfully.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Kendall asked as he ate his lasagna.

"I'll eat later," I said. I watched them eat. After everyone was done, Casey and Bailey went into the living room to watch TV. I couldn't deny that I was afraid for tomorrow. We hadn't done mission in a long time, not as big as this one. I was afraid I lost my touch or something. I was secretly getting used to this quiet some what normal life.

"You'll be fine," Kendall said kissing my cheek and went up stairs to prepare for tomorrow. After I finished cleaning the, I followed him up the stairs. I studied the map Kendall had drawn out for me. He had scouted the place for me these past couple weeks. He did a really good job at it too. He had the building all drawn out too. The more I remembered this map, the better.

The next day I woke up early to get ready. I changed into the uniform that Kendall had brought me. It only fit me perfectly. I combed my hair under it and put on the badges that he also snagged. Kendall came in.

"You ready?" he asked me. I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn't even look like myself. You would have never guessed that I was a rouge agent.

"Yeah," I said.

He drove me to the military base a couple miles away, we sat in silence. Kendall parked in front a couple blocks away. Casey and I left the car. We hurried down the street.

"Don't take a detour and head back to the car," I told him as he opened the split in the fence for me.

"Yeah, good luck," he said.

"Thanks," I slid in. The fence was very close to a solid building I had to be careful I didn't run into it. I pressed myself against the wall. There were no cameras here in this small space. I found the small space between two buildings. I slid in and I saw the end of the tunnel. It should lead to an open plaza type thing. I slithered my way through.

The center plaza didn't have much activity. I was able to sneak in unnoticed. Most other soldiers didn't bother in noticing me. I strolled over to the main building.

"So far so good," I muttered.

"Copy that," Kendall said.

With the mental picture in my head I took the large hallway to my left. Then I took a right to a smaller hallway of doors. According to the map, the office should be the third door to my left. No one was in sight. I knocked.

"Come in," came a voice.

The plaque on the door read Joseph Steele. Perfect match. I grabbed the door and entered. His office was rather small and unkept. Old coffee cups were spread around.

"How may I help you?" Mr. Steele asked me.

"I have a message for you to deliver," I said and closed the door behind me.

"A message? Well, let me hear it," he said.

"It's for Kasim."

"I'm sorry I don't believe I know a Kasim," he said nervously reaching into his desk drawer. I whipped out my gun and jumped over his desk. I pointed my gun right to his forehead. He wasn't quick enough.

"I haven't talked to Kasim, I swear!" Mr. Steele stammered.  
"So, you lied to me, huh?" I asked. He didn't answer me. I grabbed his collar and spoke quickly. "You listen and listen good. Next time you speak with Kasim tell him Elena said she's coming for him, he has his days counted. You dare call anyone as I leave. I promise I'll come right back and slice your throat. Got it?"

He nodded. Little beads of sweat slipped down his forehead. I let him go. I left his office.

"I'm on my way out," I said.

"Got it, Casey should be waiting for you," Kendall said.

I made my way out of the building. There were plenty more people in the plaza by now. I couldn't sneak out through there. I would be noticed. I entered the building. It was the dorms where the soldiers slept or something. No body was in here. I continued walking towards the back looking for some kind of exit.

A siren went off. Shit! A door opened and young men rushed out heading outside. I plastered myself against a wall so I wouldn't be run over. No one noticed me. Once the boys left I hurried for my search for an exit. I found one, but who knew where it would lead. I decided to take it.

It brought me outside by some large dumpsters.

"Casey!" I yelled hoping he could here me.

"Elena?" came his voice some way away.

"Over here by the dumpsters!" I yelled. I heard someone run over from the other side..

"Jump over the dumpster, but be careful, it's buy the fence," I heard him say.

I climbed on to the trash. I looked over the lid. I saw Casey. I see what he meant about the fence. I hopped off quickly. I closed the lid and got on. I squeezed myself in between the dumpster and fence. The siren was still screaming.

"Hurry up!" Casey said. I slithered through the back of the building.

"Over there! Don't let them get away!"

I looked up. Soldiers had found us.

"Casey cut through the wire!" I yelled.

He pulled out a pocket knife and obeyed me. He made a whole small enough for me to crawl through. I got scratched with a couple wires. As I came out they started to shoot at us. We ran off. I spotted Kendall's black Jeep speeding over. He skid to a halt. Bailey opened the door and we dived in.

"Drive!" I said.

Kendall sped off. We headed back home. That was a close one. I thought for sure that we were goners, but we weren't. My heart was still pounding and I was on a total rush. Hopefully, Steele delivered the message because our next target was OverSight headquarters.


	10. Invading OverSight

Flashback: Vents

"Which one of you stupid recruits think you can take me on?" said one of the higher ranking OverSight operatives. He was challenging most of us to one on one fights. I sat on the weight bench just watching.

"Take it easy, Thayer," Kendall said. "These are my recruits."

"Careful pretty boy, wouldn't want to mess up that hair of yours," I called.

This Thayer guy looked at me and walked on over. He bent down to me so we were at eye level.

"I wouldn't want to hurt you Princess, you're too pretty," Thayer said.

I smiled. "You're afraid I'll whoop your ass."

"Then fight me, Princess."

"I have better things to do then fight a cocky prick like you." I stood up and headed out of the training room. I grabbed a water bottle on my way out.

"Parents didn't want you, government couldn't handle you and you aren't even useful for OverSight," Thayer called after me. "If it wasn't for Kendall over there you would be in some corner picking up guys like me!"

A couple recruits gasped and Kendall quickly said, "Thayer, enough!"

That did it! Thayer had sent me off the wall. Next thing I know I'm all over him. I'm punching any where I could get my hand on him. I heard his nose bone crack and I got his jaw a couple times. I was blind with fury. I just wanted to keep going. I heard all the commotion around me, but I just kept on swinging.

"Someone pull her off him!"

A couple people dragged me off him, I shook violently in their hands trying to go after Thayer. He was motionless on the ground. I screamed and yelled like a lunatic, but I didn't care I just wanted to hit him some more after what he said to me.

"Hey, shh," Kendall attempting to calm me. "He's gone. You beat him up good. Calm down, Elena. It's me, Kendall. Listen to my voice, El." My breathing calmed as I heard him talking to me. I looked up at him. My fit of rage was almost over. "Yeah, see calm down, I won't say those mean things like Thayer. You alright?"

"Yeah," I said jerking away from his hands.

"What Thayer said was totally uncalled for," Kendall said. "I'll make sure Kasim knows what he said."

I walked off. "That's not the point. What he said was true." Kendall came after me and grabbed my arm.

"No it's not," he said. "Listen to me El, you reacted like that because it hurt you. If it was some other recruit they wouldn't have cared, they would have taken his insults. You felt something, it was rage. Out of all the recruits I had you're the only one that showed an ounce of humanity. OverSight hasn't changed that about you. You're still Elena not just another recruit."

He looked at me seriously. He never spoke to me like that before, ever. Was he just being nice to me or was he on my side?

"How do I know you're not lying to me? And all that was just pretty words?" I asked.

He pulled me forward and kissed my lips gently. I kissed him back. It was the most sincere thing about OverSight, his feelings for me.

"I'll come see you tonight," Kendall muttered quietly. I managed to nod. I was speechless.

Later on that night after curfew Kendall sneaked into my room through the air vent above my bed. I would have guessed he would use the front door, but that would look suspicious.

"You're the only good thing about OverSight," Kendall told me before kissing me a second time that night.

"Kendall," I said waking up in the middle of the night. "Kendall, wake up!" I shoved his arm a good couple times.

"Hmm?" he asked in his sleep.

"I know how to get into OverSight," I said excitedly. "Air vents!"

I saw him lay on his back. I got his attention. I heard him inhale and exhale. "They'll never see it coming," he said still half asleep.

"Yeah! You know the vents better than anyone," I encouraged.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow, El," Kendall yawned. Defeated, I laid down. He pulled me toward him and kissed my hair. I was already thinking out plans in m head. In no time, I heard Kendall's steady breathing. After I wound down from my excitement, I fell asleep too.

The next day I told Bailey and Casey my idea during breakfast.

"That's brilliant!" Casey said. "No one at OverSight has thought about that."

"Is that how you left?" Bailey asked Kendall.

Kendall nodded. "All the air vents lead to one place and the opening is a clearing, nothing's around for miles."

"Then what's stopping us," I said. "Let's talk to Toby." I entered the shell program. I was delighted to see that everyone was online. I entered their chat.

"Hey, guys," I said. "I think I have a good plan."

I explained to them my plan into invading OverSight. As I explained, I saw a couple faces lit up in agreement.

"I like it," Thayer said speaking first.

"When would you set this plan into motion?" Toby asked me.

"Thursday night," I said.

"Then so be it," Kendall said beside me. "We're here at your disposal. Tell us our assignments."

So this was my plan: Casey, Delaine, Bailey and Delaine's friend Justin would sent on a tranquilizer assignments; Toby would keep vigil on his laptop as usual; Thayer's girlfriend Ariana and former spy Marlon would keep a tabs on the dinning area and training room and Thayer, Kendall and I would go after Kasim. Kendall would lead us to our destination in the ventilation system. It sounded like a good plan to me.

"I'm afraid to loose you, El," Kendall said as we prepared our bag that Thursday afternoon. "All of OverSight is after you."

"I'll be fine," I said.

"Just don't do anything crazy will you?"

I laughed. I wasn't that crazy was I? "I promise."

"Come on, let's take a quick nap before we have to leave."

We slept for most of the evening to be ready for tonight. I fell into a deep sleep pretty easily. I slept for about four hours before waking up.

I got up to go wake up Casey and Bailey.

"Casey," I said softly touching his arm. "Wake up, it's time to go."

He opened his eyes and looked up at me. He sat up.

"You nervous?" I asked him.

"Yeah, a little," Casey said. I saw his eyes dart to his sister. He wasn't afraid for himself.

"She'll be fine," I said. "She knows her stuff. We've all got her back."

He gave a nod. I got up to leave. As I closed the door, I heard Casey lean in and wake up his sister. I went to the kitchen to reheat the chicken and pasta. Everyone came down to eat in silence. It was a little tense, but Kendall tried to lighten the mood by making future plans with them too.

After we were done, we got into the black Jeep and headed off.

"Remember the communication might not work inside OverSight because they might be something interfering with the signal. No matter what stay on that frequency," Kendall said. "Take only orders from Elena, Toby or I."

The two nodded to signal us they understood. We stopped an hour later. We parked and stepped out of the car. We were in the middle of no where. I couldn't see anything in this darkness. I could feel grass under my feet. I'm guessing we were in a field.

"See anything?" Kendall asked me.

I gazed out into the darkness.

"Nothing."

"Look over there! I see the signal!" Bailey said.

We looked to where she was pointing to. In the middle of the darkness, I could see a light flash three times then stop. It repeated again after a thirty second wait.

"It's them," I said.

Kendall returned the signal. A couple minutes later everyone was here. They had walked over from where ever they were. I was so happy to see everyone! They all looked stern and ready.

"Let's get to it," Thayer said.

"Alright follow me," Kendall said.

He led the way through the dark field. I grabbed his arm and put it around me as we walked. He kissed my forehead and we walked together. Kendall came to a stop.

"This is where all the air vents come together," Kendall said bending down. I shined my flashlight at it as Toby and Kendall took off the lid. It looked like an over sized drain hole. It had two descending ladders on each side of the circle. "Casey, Bailey, Delaine and Justin come down first. Then Ariana and Marlon. And then Thayer and Elena know where to go."

We all nodded. Kendall descended down the ladder. Casey, Delanie, Bailey and Justin. A couple moments later Ariana and Marlon went down. Then Thayer.

"Toby, if things get ugly down there get the hell out of here," I said as he sat with his laptop on his lap.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. "And let you guys have all the fun? I'm going in after you guys!"

"Toby-,"

"It's not like I can call for back up, you're all down there. I can put up a fight if I have to and I will."

I blinked. I've never had Toby tell me off before. He always agreed with me on everything.

"See you in a bit then," I said.

I went down the left ladder and the faint glow of Toby's computer quickly disappeared. Like Kendall instructed I lowered all the way to the second air shaft. He said this one would lead me all the way to Kasim's office. I crawled in. I shined my flashlight in this particular tunnel didn't suggest any more tunnels. I shut off the light and crawled forward. I could see the end and I heard voices.

"No, do as I say!" Kasim ordered into the phone. "My word is law around here so do it!"

I was just above his desk; his head was positioned against me, not looking in my direction. His large spacious office was polished clean and there was a certain gleam to it. He hung up the phone. I pulled out my gun from my waist. I opened the latch and opened the door. He got up and went to his door with out looking back. I jumped out behind his desk. I had my gun raised too his back. As he pulled the door open he stopped and closed it like he forgot something. He turned to look at me.

"My, my, Elena," Kasim said with a smile. "What do I owe this pleasure?"

"Don't tell me you've missed me that bad?" I teased.

"Why of course, you were one of the best assassins out there, you know," he told me. "But I've trained more like you. They should be killing your friends as we speak."

"Not if I kill you first," I said stepping closer to him my gun still ready to kill him.

"And then you'd be killed in an instant by agents waiting outside my office," Kasim said.

"It'll be worth it."

"Then do it!" he yelled at me. I walked over to him until my gun was at his heart. "Do it, you silly girl! Kill me!"

I whacked his head with my gun. I quickly backed away as the door slammed open. I hid behind his desk as agents shot at me. Outside I could here gun shots firing and people yelling. I shot back at them.

"Elena!" came Thayer's voice. Together we cleared the way and he came into Kasim's office. He got me to my feet. "You okay? Did you kill Kasim?"

I shook my head not letting my mouth say anything for me. I didn't want him to think I was a coward. He wen over to Kasim's body on the ground. He shot his chest twice and lead me through the fight.

"Elena! Elena! Where are you?" came Kendall's panicked voice into the ear piece.

"I'm with Thayer. We took out Kasim!" I said.

"We need help guys, this is turning out bad," Kendall said.

"We're on it."

"The fights are in the training room and dorms," Thayer said. "Come on."

An agent shot at us, Thayer pulled me to one side and shot him in the chest. The recruit toppled over. We got tot the training room and I saw agents shooting at Delaine, Marlon and Casey. Thayer tore off to help them.

I slipped past them and ran into the next fight. Toby, Ariana, Bailey and Justin were knocking down agents left and right. I was searching for Kendall, he was no where in sight.

"Kendall!" I called through the communicator. "Where are you?"

"Angelina trapped me! She set off an explosive, it's going to go off in three minutes," he said.

"You guys getting this?" I asked.

Everyone responded that they did.

"All of you guys clear out," I said. "I'm coming to get you, Kendall."

"I'm in the interrogation room," he told me.

I sprinted past everyone towards a different hallway where the sounds of the fights drowned out. I got the interrogation room. It was locked. I broke in full force.

"Elena," Kendall said relieved. He was handcuffed to a metal beam from the floor. I remember being hand cuffed to it once when I first disobeyed orders.

"How do I get you out?" I asked. We only had two minutes left.

"You'll have to shoot them off. There isn't time to find a way out."

"But what if I-"

"I trust you."

"But-"

"Get me the fuck out of here will you?"

I aimed and shot. His left hand was free. I sighed of relief.

"Good, now the other," Kendall said. He put his hand behind his back. I aimed again and shot. Kendall ducked his head and I gasped. I missed.

"Try again," he said. I aimed and shot. He was free.

"Yes, way to go!" he said. "Come on let's get out of here!" He opened the air vent and we crawled through it. We got to the center of the air vents.

"You guys have one minute!" Toby called.

"Go! Hurry!" Kendall said. We climbed up the ladders in the dark. It was hard climbing as fast as I could and in the dark. I missed a step. I yelled out in fear. Kendall helped me get my balance.

"Fifteen seconds!" Toby said. A couple seconds later I heard the explosives go off down below.

"Let go!"

"What?"

"Let go!"

I did as he told me and let go from the ladder. He caught me in his arms. The force of the explosion blasted us out of OverSight's ventilation system. Then I hit the hard cold ground full force. Then I was in and out of consciousness. Someone picked me up and then I closed my eyes. I wouldn't be able to stay up for long anyway.


	11. Hawaii

I could feel something warm and soft around me. No, I wasn't dead or I don't think I was. I inhaled deeply and opened my eyes.

"Hey there, sleepy head," someone said. I was in my room in my bed. Thayer and Toby were sitting on the edge of my bed.

"You alright?" Toby asked me.

"I think so," I said sitting up. My back hurt as if I pulled a muscle. I felt a little dizzy too from getting up too fast. "Where's Kendall? And the others? What about the others?"

"Calm down," Toby encouraged me.

"Delaine and Bailey died," Thayer said. "They were killed by agents."

My heart shattered for Kendall. He just lost his sister. She lost her life because of me. I let two innocent girls die. It should have been like I originally planned just Toby, Thayer, Kendall and I. I felt horrible. I knew something like this would happen and I let it.

"I want to see Kendall," I said.

"He left this morning," Toby said. "I'll try and contact him." He left the room.

"I feel sorry for Kendall," Thayer admitted. "But I'd feel more sorry for him if he lost you."

"Don't let Ari catch you saying that," I said.

"Ari and I are through."

"Why? When did this happen?"

"This morning. She left because I didn't choose to leave with her."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know you love her."

"I thought I did."

The door opened and Kendall came in. He strode over quickly to sit by me and Thayer got to his feet to make room. Kendall sat down. We kissed deeply. I heard the door slam.

"You okay? You aren't hurt?" he asked holding my face in his hands.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," I said. He grinned and kissed me again.

"You gave me a good scare," he said. "Once you were in Kasim's office you wouldn't respond to us. They cut you out of the frequency."

"I heard about Delaine and Bailey," I said quietly. "And I'm sorry, I really am. This is all my fault."

"This is my fault to," he said. "I let her talk me into joining. I could never blame you, El. She went down like a hero."

He stroked my cheek and tried to smile for me. It was a sad smile but a smile just the same.

It didn't feel like a victory because we had lost some of our own. We didn't have many rouge agents out there. Their loss was huge. Most field agents were wiped out. We did a good job taking them out, but there were still spies, cleaners, hackers and operatives out there. What I cared was that we took out Kasim. Hopefully, with him gone OverSight would follow.

Even if Delaine and Bailey were gone so was Casey. He disappeared the night she died. We tried tracking him down, but we couldn't find him. Justin went back to his boarding school alone. Marlon settled down in New York.

Toby made a list of remaining field agents out there. We divided the list up and went to go track them down. Turns out many of them had normal lives and had left their post. Kendall and I followed a woman with her son in Nebraska.

She stopped to look at by a news stand to grab the news paper. Kendall and I scrambled ourselves to a near by bus stop.

"Looks like that's it," Kendall said as the former OverSight woman walked down the street. "We got all this freedom now. Feels odd, doesn't it?"

"Feels liberating if you ask me," I said.

Kendall laughed. We walked down the street opposite the woman we were just trailing. "So, where do you want to go?"

I looked up at him. "You want me to choose?"

"Yep, any where."

"Hawaii. I grew up there, you know?"

"Hawaii it is."


End file.
